(7) Unanswered Questions

3 years later

James couldn't tell her much that day back in the hospital wing. Peter was dead. His murderer never found. His body was sent home his mother's for burial. James, Remus & the younger Sirius & Lily attended, along with several other friends. The older Sirius had nothing to do with it. There wasn't much else he was able to tell her. Oh yeah! They were headed for war. Sirius found another family member, Uncle Orion, who mostly kept to himself but in time, he soon shed the haunted look. (Uncle Orion soon mentioned that he knew Aerial Animagic. He was a great bald Eagle, earning himself the Marauder's name 'America' much to the snickers of the entire pack. The brotherhood tattoo appeared under his right wing.) Snape unfortunately woke up almost the minute Lily had. He was fine.

In the last week, James & Sirius earned a detention that cost the Marauders their most precious possession: the Map. Filch confiscated the parchment & that was it. Remus didn't speak to either of them for the rest of the term. Try as they might, they could not get it back & it was only after several million offerings of chocolate did their werewolf forgive them. Sort of. Maybe. They never really knew. On their final day of Hogwarts, James had asked Lily to marry him. She said yes.

For everything else though, only James, Sirius & Orion knew more of the story. James knew the most of it. It nearly killed him to know what he had to do. He still didn't know how to find that third piece or how to get the second one. He knew where it was but getting it, more importantly, earning its loyalty, for that above all else would be the key to sparing Lily & his son's lives, was still a mystery to him. He kept the only one he actually owned close by at all times. In the meantime, any moment he had, he tried to practise doing things with precision. It seemed impossible. One second off & he would be dead.

Soon, that was put on the back burner. Lily was pregnant! The next several months were spent baby-proofing the house & picking out names. They soon settled on Savona for a girl, Jason for a boy. James went silent, mulling that over. Harry. It was supposed to be Harry, right?

The war plunged the Wizarding World into turmoil. The Marauders saw many friends die. There was one time when Lily & James were at the Ministry Of Magic & Death Eaters suddenly attacked. One of their muggle-born friends, pushed them through a panel in the wall into the next room. As it fell shut, they heard the horrid cry 'Aveda Kedavra' & a sickening thud of body hitting floor. He was an old wizard who had often joked that he could play grandpa to the baby.

His name was Harold Dawson.

Lily & James barely made it back home with their lives & then had to apparate to the nearest hospital right away since she went into labour at that moment. When she had finally birthed a son, James had asked if they could name him Harold, after their fallen friend. Harry for short. Lily had agreed & Harry James Potter was introduced to the world at last.

James sighed, lying down next to Lily. Sirius had gone to get coffee while Remus lay Sphinx-posed in the next bed, little Harry between his hands. Remus reminded James of a lioness holding her cubs between her paws. Remus dipped his head occasionally, licking the baby, if possible, even more clean. James snickered & lay his head down on Lily's breast.

"Moony," Lily finally said. "I think he's clean now." Remus merely looked up at her with big gold eyes. Moony was actually awake. He licked his chops then returned to licking Harry to death. "Moony." Lily sighed, giving up.

Sirius handed over the coffees for James & Lily with a hot chocolate for Remus. "Well now, whenever it's bath time I guess we know who to call."

"Instinct," Remus muttered. "Inevitable." He continued licking. Suddenly he yipped like a dog in pain. Looking over, Sirius, Lily & James saw Remus lift his head, a tiny hand gripping his bangs. "Merlin's sake! GET HIM OFF!" The other three roared with laughter. Remus had no choice but to try pulling the baby's fingers out of his hair himself. No chance in hell! He barked, frustrated, earning more laughs. The door opened again.

"America," James looked up. "You made it."

"Of course I did," Orion walked in.

"I can't believe how much like Sirius you look," Lily said.

"We are close family," Orion shrugged. "Having fun, Remus?"

Remus narrowed his eyes, huffing. "Loads."

Orion came over & pulled out his wand. He had bought a new one during the summer after Seventh Year. It was 15 inch pure white birch with a mermaid scale core. With a flick of his wrist, a blade appeared at the tip & in one fluid movement, he shaved the bangs off the werewolf. "Better?"

"You didn't do that. You did NOT just do that!" Remus grabbed a small mirror off the desk. "Oh Merlin! I don't believe it!"

"You look ugly as hell Moony," James snickered.

"Oh come here," Lily used her own wand & gave Remus a military crew cut. Everyone wolf-whistled. Remus rolled his eyes. "I think we should all do that now with Harry around. Babies love pulling hair."

"Yeah good luck with that one," Sirius said. "I'll just ponytail mine for now. I like it long."

Remus passed his hand over his short hair. "Feels odd really." Orion laughed at him & then picked up the baby. Remus eyed him. In fact, the moment Orion had been introduced a few years ago, Remus had been suspicious of him.

The story was that he was very ill & had come home for a much-needed rest. That much Remus believed. When they first met him, he had looked like death itself had crawled out of the grave. But as he got better, the resemblance to Padfoot was uncanny. The scent basically the same. He was friendly enough & Remus liked him but he knew that somewhere a lie had been said ... or perhaps at the least, a truth omitted. Orion had looked him over that first day & then promptly pushed his lips back. 'Ah a werewolf pup. That is so cool, Sirius! Looks like you're doing a good job of taming him. He's beautiful!' (That made Remus blush like nothing else & everyone within earshot laugh until they nearly died from the pain of it!) Just like that. Orion had found out his secret yet accepted him in one breath for what he was. For that Remus was grateful, but the way it was done, so smoothly as if nothing was the matter, put him off. Along with the scent & the resemblance.

Another question was where did Orion come from? No one had ever heard of him before that fateful day that Peter was murdered. Sirius hastily replied that no one talked of 'Uncle Orion' since, being a so-called blood traitor, the Honourable & Most Noble House Of Black had disowned him. So Remus dug deeper; how come Sirius himself had never mentioned another respectable Black besides Andromeda? Sirius merely shrugged & said that he had thought the guy was dead before now. That was easy enough to believe, considering the look of the man in the beginning ... but still, Remus was skeptical.

Within a year, Orion had mentioned off-hand that he was an unregistered Animagus as if knowing that the pack would accept him. As if knowing that they were all unregistered Animagi (par Remus himself of course) to keep their werewolf company. He knew none of them would dare mention their illegality, not even to Dumbledore. Remus only watched quietly as Orion showed off his Bald Eagle form. James immediately called out America & the name stuck. Well if nothing else, the Animagical form was supposed to show one's inner character. One could not pick what kind of animal they were, only control what type from the three groups, so one wouldn't literally end up like a fish out of water. Eagles of any sort were prideful & loyal, perfect symbol for United States of America. Still, Remus knew he was missing something or other. From then on, the pack was complete with four once more; an Eagle instead of a Rat.

Orion Black was definitely hiding something. Worse, Remus somehow knew that Sirius & possibly even James, was covering for him. Remus sighed, watching Orion hand the baby over to Lily. America soon appeared & perched on the railing at the edge of Lily's bed. He began preening.

Harry Potter was brought home a day later & laid to sleep in his crib upstairs. The Eagle perched on one side, looking in with one gold eye. James, Sirius, Remus & Lily crowded around, fussing over the new addition to the pack. Lily eventually made all but America leave the room for fear of waking the poor boy up.

James went about serving some lunch, whistling up the stairs about an hour later to summon the Eagle. Lily lay on the couch, head on Remus's lap, resting, while Sirius set the table. A flurry of feathers all but knocked him over. Sirius glared at America.

"Sorry about that," Orion snickered, running a hand through hair as short as the werewolf's.

Remus narrowed his eyes, trying to imagine that man with long hair. Long like Sirius. He had never seen Orion with long hair (not knowing that Sirius had made Orion shave it down in the unicorn barn & that only after a heated argument). Merlin's sake, what was he missing? Again, he wondered if there was not one but two Sirius Blacks standing before him. Again, he wondered if he had gone crazy & dismissed such a ludicrous thought the next moment.

The pack soon settled into life with a fawn, as Remus referred to Harry even though the baby didn't know a thing about Animagic or any kind of magic at the moment. The pack kept to themselves as much as possible with Harry around. The war had its ups & downs but didn't seem to come too near anyone at the moment.

James however, was beginning to get restless. More than once now, Lily had caught him sitting alone in the dark on the large armchair in the living room, hands folded under chin, staring through his glasses straight ahead at nothing. The first few times, she didn't disturb him but as the habit became more & more regular, Lily decided that the next time he did that she would confront him. James had been gone on an errand for Dumbledore for the past few days. Lily hoped that when he came back, he would stop sitting up at night. She hoped that he had merely been planning his next course of action. Something told her she was wrong.

Lily watered the flowers in front of the house, waiting for James to return later that afternoon. America had flown in that morning with a note from Prongs, after which Orion appeared & grumbled about being used as some ruddy owl. Lily merely threw water at him. The late spring of 1981 was warmer than usual. He would dry. Orion stomped off muttering things under breath that a lady with a baby shouldn't hear.

James came in late that afternoon & the four of them, Orion & little Harry included, had a nice meal under the shade of the birch tree in the back yard. Orion went home soon after "before 'Hornhead' came up with another clever idea to turn him into a common post owl," saying he'd check in on them at the next full moon in a few days.

Lily put Harry down as James got into bed. She lay down beside him & the pair fell asleep. James stayed with her right through that night & the next. The night before full moon however, James was downstairs again, in the dark, staring at nothing. Lily noticed his absence when Harry woke her up, crying for his midnight feeding. She scooped him up & went for a bottle, then entered the living room.

Only to find James Potter sitting there once more.

"Planning the full moon I hope?" Lily honestly asked.

James was startled back to reality as the light came on. "Something like that. Hi there, Prongsie."

"Jim, we don't know if he'll manage a deer or something completely different," Lily laughed at him. "Personally, if he does get into Animagic, I'm hoping for either a fox or dolphin."

"A dol—Lily!" James stared in disbelief. "How can a dolphin help Moony?"

"I'm sure Moony would love to run on a beach one of these nights," Lily said.

James just shook his head. He watched Lily & Harry settle on the floor, Lily holding out a toy plush dragon to Harry. He sighed. "Lily, I have to leave again for a bit."

Lily looked up at him. "Another mission from Dumbledore?"

James closed his eyes, letting out a breath. "Oh, we need to talk." Lily looked horrified. "No! NO! Not like that. I'm not leaving y—Merlin's sake! I could never walk out on you! The best part of my life is you & Harry. It's something else."

"This had better be good, James Prongs Potter," Lily tossed the dragon at Harry's side & then went to the couch to sit down.

James sat beside her. "This Halloween, we're going to have to pull off a huge—& I mean HUGE—prank."

Lily stared at him a moment, then burst out laughing. She punched his arm. "Oh James! You really had me worried for a moment! You're horrible!" After laughing some more, she put on her 'serious Marauder-esse' face. "Alright, what are we doing?"

"I'm not quite sure how, but we'll need a lot of luck," James sighed. "First I need to find something but I'll be lucky to figure out where it is in time. The whole thing will be based on a lot of luck & that seems hard to come by right now."

"Would you like me to brew you some of Felix's Liquid Luck?" Lily teased.

James mouth dropped open & he could only stare in silence for several minutes. There was his answer. How simple! How stupid was he? Liquid Luck. Granted he was horrible at Potions. Of course that would be he last thing he thought of. "... Why ... Lily ... you're amazing!"

"I was just joking," Lily laughed.

James shot to his feet. "No ... no no no. It's perfect. It's totally perfect! Oh Sweet Merlin! It'll work!" He clapped his hands. "This is why I married you, Lily. You're bloody brilliant."

"Merci (Thank you)," Lily spoke one of the few French terms she knew. "Well, if you want to do it that way, how much do you need?"

James thought hard. He needed one to find that final piece. One to help him fake his death properly & succeed. One for Lily, though she wouldn't know until she had to use it. He stared into those emerald eyes of hers. "Three."

"Three?" Lily scoffed. What was wrong with her husband? "Jim."

"I need three," James repeated. "In fact, I need one of them to be a double dose as part of my plan will take some time & I can't risk the potion wearing off. It's unpredictable when it wears off, isn't it?"

"More or less a day or two," Lily shrugged as she sat back. James had never been so serious in all the time she had known him. She suddenly felt like he wasn't telling her everything. But not wanting to spoil any surprise he most likely had planned for her, she didn't ask now. "Alright dear. Three, one with a double dose."

James stood up & bowed slightly. "Merci. Excusez-moi (Thank you. Excuse me)."

Surprised at his continued seriousness & withdrawal, Lily could only watch him head up stairs to bed. At least he was going to bed. She picked up Harry & brought the boy to his crib. Perhaps sleeping on this was a good idea.